Blog Stats

Heavy Meta

Shrag have split up and I’m gutted. Yet to hear the reasons, I’m sure they all make sense, just frustrating when you come across a band (very late, it must be said) and then they vanish. Ah well, they were mint, especially last album Canines (see review).

Here’s my recent Narc live review:

“On a night when everyone flocked to see various local indie heroes, a more select, smarter – dare I say it, sexier? – crowd gathered to see Brighton’s Shrag… (They) are the first indie band since Los Campesinos! to really catch my attention, and in some ways they’re similar – whipsmart, literate, ambitious, complex. Live, they’re rawer, more scrappy, but not at the expense of their songs. In a set heavy on tunes from this year’s astonishing Canines album, the Brighton quintet don’t let the small audience bring them down and power through a set stuffed with brilliance. Frontwoman Helen is a ball of nervy energy, fluttering around the stage, curling into a ball, dancing off the front of the stage, her lyrics full of resentment and lust. Most indiepop bands would kill for one song as good as Show Us Your Canines or On The Spines Of Old Cathedrals. Shrag have a whole set of them. If they come back to Newcastle, you owe it yourself and them to show up.”